The Seven Sacraments Part Three: Confirmation: Anointed by God’s Spirit
Like Baptism, Confirmation is a sacrament of initiation, one of the three sacraments that initiates us into the Christian life. Today, this sacrament is usually received after one has already received the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist, but this was not always the case.
In the early church, Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist were conferred together, usually at the Easter Vigil. If you have attended the Easter Vigil in recent years, you have noticed that adults who are entering the church receive all three sacraments at the Easter Vigil after a period of catechesis called the Rite of Christian Initiation (RCIA). Moreover, if you have any friends who belong to Eastern Rite churches, you know that in those churches infants receive all three sacraments at once. They are baptized, confirmed, and receive the Eucharist as infants. Thus they are “fully initiated” into the church as infants.
In the Roman Catholic Church, Confirmation was separated from Baptism early on and reserved to the Bishop who would visit the parish periodically and confirm those who had not yet been confirmed. This had two results: first, this new arrangement meant that Confirmation was conferred later in life. Second, this arrangement tended to forget that Confirmation is a sacrament of initiation intimately related to Baptism and Eucharist.
At the present time, young people in the Archdiocese of Hartford are confirmed at the end of their sophomore year in high school. One of the benefits of this later date is that it allows young people to make a choice they could not make as infants about their faith in Jesus Christ. Thus Confirmation is an opportunity to confirm a decision made earlier by one’s parents.
The most important meaning of Confirmation, however, is that it is a Sacrament of Initiation. By Confirmation one is confirmed in one’s faith because one is sealed with the Holy Spirit. To be sure, those who are baptized have already received the Spirit, but at Confirmation the Spirit comes upon them anew to confirm and strengthen them in the faith. Those who are confirmed are fully imitated into the church, charged with the responsibility of preaching the gospel to others.
Confirmation is a decisive moment in one’s life; it is a moment when a person takes on the responsibility of being a Christian; it is a moment when a person chooses to be a follower of Jesus Christ. This is possible because at Confirmation the Spirit of the living God descends upon the baptized and empowers them with the gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. Those who receive these gifts and embrace the gift of the Spirit will discover that they have been empowered to live the Christian life in a powerfully new way.
If you have been confirmed call upon the Spirit of God to strengthen you in your faith and to renew these gifts within you. If you are about to be confirmed, do not think of confirmation as a “graduation from religious classes.” Rather, view it as the beginning of a full life in the Spirit as a fully initiated adult in the community of the church.
Life in the Spirit is the fullness of life because it anticipates the resurrection life we will enjoy with God. Life in the Spirit is a life of love, joy, and peace. Those who are in the Spirit can live a morally good life because the power of God’s Spirit empowers them to do what they could not formally do. Live by the Spirit, be guided by the Spirit, and let the Spirit lead you. If you do, you will discover the fullness of God’s life. Father Matera